The present invention generally relates to a wireless communication device. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for using a dedicated game interface on a wireless communication device with projector capability.
As wireless communication devices such as cellular phones and portable computers integrate traditionally standalone features into their hardware packaging, some projectors in recent years are sufficiently miniaturized for device-level integration into some wireless communication devices. Miniaturized projectors typically use digital light processing (DLP) technology and may one day become an integral part of many wireless communication devices, similar to a prolific integration of digital cameras into cellular phones in recent years. Although some cellular phone manufacturers have demonstrated prototypes for potential commercial release of miniaturized projectors in cellular phones, a lack of good contrast ratio and/or power consumption-related issues are currently delaying most consumer-level product launches. Furthermore, a potential synergy of an integrated projector to a wireless communication device such as a cell phone or a portable computer has not been fully explored due to an early technological development cycle of such combinations and/or integrations currently. Therefore, a unique opportunity for novel and inventive applications exists in this technological segment.
An interesting device application which may materialize upon proliferation of integrated miniaturized projectors is projection-oriented gaming for wireless communication devices, especially for cellular phones. In the past, several cellular phone manufacturers attempted to create a loyal consumer base of portable gamers on cellular phones based on network multi-playability over cellular networks. Nokia's N-Gage models, for example, combined a conventional telephone interface with game-related controls. Some N-Gage models combined directional control and/or fire buttons with cellular phone buttons and interfaces, which often had dual purposes for gaming and conventional voice or text-related communications.
However, these existing game-interface cellular phones largely failed to get market traction, in part because of awkward shapes of dual-purpose interfaces and other ergonomic-related factors reduced the appeal of such cellular phone models as gaming devices, compared to dedicated portable gaming devices such as Nintendo's Game Boy models. Furthermore, the existing game-interface cellular phones such as N-Gage relied on attached small-screen displays for gaming, which made such game-interface cellular phones impractical competitors to dedicated gaming consoles and portable personal computers (PC's) such as laptop and “netbook” computers with more flexible screen sizes. Therefore, a novel apparatus and a method which uniquely utilize a dedicated game interface in a wireless communication device with integrated projector capability may be highly beneficial in some wireless communication devices in the future.